The Collapsing Empire

Our universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible--until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, around other stars. Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war-- and a system of control for the rulers of the empire. The Flow is eternal--but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity. When it's discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off all human worlds from faster than light travel forever, three individuals--a scientist, a starship captain and the Empress of the Interdependency--are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

Related Resources

Opinion

From the critics

Community Activity

Comment

I didn't realize this was the first in a series when I started it, but I'm pleased that it is. The book establishes interesting characters who are fun to read as they're scheming, all set against the probable downfall of civilization. That plot line doesn't pay off yet, though. The events in this book set up possibilities related to it—it might destroy everyone, it might result in just a seismic shift in power, and it might destroy everyone except the people who maneuver themselves into the right seat of power, both politically and in physical space. I'm intrigued to read more.

First in a new trilogy. Sci-fi seems to think that telling a story in three or more parts is the way to insure you sell books. It has always been so! I will follow this story line to the conclusion but Scalzi is giving a lot of clues as to where he is going with this tale. He is the best thing going in the genre right now and there are some very good authors banging out the words to give him competition. Sooner or later I would really like one or two to try to use fairly hard science to tell their tale. Mankind may go to the stars eventually, but it is much more likely the stars will come to us first, mankind on earth is too late to the game.

An outstanding first book in a series whose follow-ups I will be impatiently awaiting for years to come. Scalzi is a dual threat, excelling at crafting endlessly fascinating worlds and endlessly interesting characters, and he's operating at the top of his game here.

The Collapsing Empire is driven mainly by the interesting characters that Scalzi writes. This book is a little bit light on plot-development and is obviously the first book in a planned series. It uses the classic “feuding nobel houses” storyline and brings to mind Frank Herbert’s Dune. It also might be compared to Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves. It is quite detailed in its description of commerce and trade that the Interdependency (an intergalactic empire, ruled by a monarch) is dependent on. The book sets an interesting course in terms of what’s to come in the rest of the series and reflects the current climate crisis. A group of scientists warn of impending doom for billions of people spread throughout the stars, while social and economic elite do everything they can to capitalize on it or ignore it completely. Nominated for the 2018 Hugo Award.

A weak start to a new series. Scalzi fan here, but this whole volume has churned-out-to-fulfill-contract slapped all over it. The invention supposed to get our attention is a female
hero who talks dirtier than any longshoreman or muleskinner you can imagine. No character or situation was interesting or ingratiating enough to make me wish for the next book in the
series, and the lack of closure is therefore twice as annoying. To me it is Scalzi's first misfire.
Two stars.

This an appealing mix of elements from Dune and Foundation. It also includes analogues and commentary from current American politics. I will definitely be looking forward to the continuation of this series.

Going in, I didn't realize this was the first book in a series set in this universe. It became painfully apparent, however, as The Collapsing Empire meandered through introductions, expositions and anti-climactic set pieces. Half way through I realized I was simply reading the opening crawl for a larger vision and the rest of the book plodded along, starting new threads it had no intention of tying up by the final pages.

I guess I'm in now—though I don't feel any specific connection to this world. The trick, I suppose is to write the first part of a series in such a way that it doesn't require the rest of the series. You know, a complete and fulfilling story in and of itself. Unfortunately, this book doesn't quite do the trick.

The setting reminds me a bit of Byzantium meets the Federation (well, except that there are no aliens). The setting is a bit sparse, which is a pity because it feels like there's a tonne of backstory that we're not seeing. And for a fairly Byzantine-style political system/narrative, the plot seems quite strongly linear.

This being said, I was highly amused by the characters and their reactions to situations that they encountered. As a stand-alone it's a bit thin, but I'm hoping there are more volumes to come...